VIENTIANE – ASEAN foreign ministers adopted a statement Saturday expressing veiled resentment over China’s building of artificial islands and fortifying of its garrison in the South China Sea, without specifically naming the country.

“The ministers emphasized the importance of non-militarization and self-restraint in the conduct of activities” in the disputed waters, Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith said at the close of the one-day ministerial retreat in the Laotian capital.

Laos, this year’s chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), announced the negotiated press statement.

The foreign ministers noted in the statement that they “remained seriously concerned over the recent and ongoing developments” in the South China Sea, where up to 50 percent of the world’s oil tanker shipments and over half the world’s merchant tonnage pass through.

http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/02/27/16/asean-ministers-resent-chinas-moves-to-militarize-s-china-sea